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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ARIZONA POEMS: 6. RAIN IN THE DESERT, by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER Poet's Biography First Line: The huge red-buttressed mesa over yonder Last Line: Whirling, extinguishing the last red wisp of light. Subject(s): Deserts; Food & Eating; Native Americans; Rain; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America | |||
The huge red-buttressed mesa over yonder Is merely a far-off temple where the sleepy sun is burn- ing Its altar-fires of pinyon and of toyon for the day. The old priests sleep, white-shrouded, Their pottery whistles lie beside them, the prayer-sticks closely feathered On every mummied face there glows a smile. The sun is rolling slowly Beneath the sluggish folds of the sky-serpents, Coiling, uncoiling, blue-black, sparked with fires. The old dead priests Feel in the thin dried earth that is heaped about them, Above the smell of scorching oozing pinyon, The acrid smell of rain. And now the showers Surround the mesa like a troop of silver dancers: Shaking their rattles, stamping, chanting, roaring, Whirling, extinguishing the last red wisp of light. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD INDIAN by ARTHUR STANLEY BOURINOT SCHOLARLY PROCEDURE by JOSEPHINE MILES ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON THE INDIANS ON ALCATRAZ by PAUL MULDOON PARAGRAPHS: 9 by HAYDEN CARRUTH THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING by HAYDEN CARRUTH AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION by DIANE DI PRIMA ARIZONA POEMS: 2. MEXICAN QUARTER by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER |
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